It doesn’t matter whether you are dealing with just a handful of bed bugs or a whole house full. To successfully eliminate the problem from the home, you’ll have to familiarize yourself with some of their common proclivities.
Given their small size and innate ability to access some of the hardest-to-reach locations, you’ll almost need to know exactly where to look to locate the bugs.
Combine that information with their stealthy nature and reddish-brown exterior, and you’ll understand why most homeowners don’t even realize they are dealing with an infestation until the population is extensively spread around the home.
Why You Need To Learn Common Bed Bug Hiding Spots
To start, it would be almost nearly impossible for someone to accidentally come across a bed bug. It usually requires an extensive search with a well-thought-out search plan to locate the bugs. If you do happen to stumble across one or two bugs, it likely means the population has grown so great that they are forcing each other into the open.
There are several reasons why this is the case. Unlike other insects, bed bugs are smart enough to go out of their way to avoid human contact. For instance, if you sleep during the day and are awake at night, these bugs will adjust their sleeping habits. They’ll start sleeping at night so they can feed on you during the day while you sleep.
Not only this, but they are incredibly small, only averaging to be about the size of an apple seed. With their reddish-brown exterior, they can easily blend in with everyday surroundings. What makes matters even worse is not everyone reacts to bites. Since bite marks are how most modern homeowners determine an infestation, you can see how troubling it would be not knowing you are being fed upon while you sleep.
The best way to handle a bed bug infestation is by stopping it before it starts. One of the best ways to do just that is by knowing where the bugs like to hide. You don’t want to wait until you just luckily happen upon one.
The Bed And Bed Clothes
One of the most well-known statistics regarding bed bugs is that they feed on humans while they sleep. You can use this to your advantage. Bed bugs are opportune pests, meaning they are going to take up residence as close to their food source as possible. Most of them try to get so close that they’ll take up residence right in the bed with you.
This is where your search should begin. Unfortunately, this won’t be as simple as just shaking out the sheets or flipping the mattress. Bed bugs are smart, so you’ll have to remove the bed linens and thoroughly inspect the bed. Check everything from the cracks in the bed frame and headboards to the crevices and tags in the mattress.
Searching The Bedroom
If bed bugs don’t take up residence in the mattress or bed linens, their next best option would be somewhere in the bedroom. The thing to remember is, they want to be as near their host as possible. Unfortunately, that still leaves a big search area, given their innate ability to hide. Searching when you normally sleep would be the most opportune time to begin the search of the room.
You’ll want to scour everything from the electrical outlets to the baseboards. The drapes, nightstands, bedroom furniture, carpets, under rugs, and doorway thresholds are other common places bed bugs hide. These creatures possess the ability to stuff their bodies into an opening as small as a nail hole, so your search must be thorough and extensive.